Erling Blondal-Bengtsson
Cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson was born to a musical family. His father was a Danish violinist and his mother was an Icelandic pianist. His father started him on violin lessons when the boy was three. The youngster flatly refused to hold the violin in the traditional manner under the chin; instead he attempted to play it in an upright position, like a cello. The father fitted an end-piece to a viola so that it could be played like a cello, and started him on lessons with that instrument. Later an old violin maker friend of the family made the boy a genuine mini-cello, probably the smallest one ever built.
The boy made a public debut at the age of four and a half playing The Swan by Saint-Saëns. Within a year he had added some pieces by Popper, Nolck, and Beethoven to his repertoire. He was sent to Fritz Dietzmann for lessons, principal cellist in the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra. At the age of ten Bengtsson appeared as soloist with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra. However, most musical opportunities, including the possibility of continuing his studies, were limited by the German occupation of 1940-1945. Only through phonograph records could he be exposed to music.
After the war, he began giving concerts in Iceland, his mother's native land, which he calls his "motherland." The island nation gave financial support for him to go to the United States for study. In 1948 he started attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He stayed there for two years, studying with the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and then becoming Piatigorsky's assistant.
In an article he recalled that from his very first meeting with Piatigorsky, the older man stated that "we are colleagues," and their study together was in the form of playing for each other and exchanging ideas. In 1950 Piatigorsky moved to California. Bengtsson accepted an offer to teach at the Curtis Institute, where he stayed for three yeas except for the summer of 1951, which he spent in very concentrated study while staying as a guest in Piatigorsky's home in Los Angeles. In 1953 he returned to Scandinavia where 1953 he became a faculty member of the Royal Danish Conservatory. He also spent twenty years as a teacher at the Music School of the Swedish Radio in Edburg Castle in Stockholm. He has been on faculty at the University of Michigan since 1988.
He is noted for his performances of William Walton's Cello Concerto, a work written for Piatigorsky. In teaching, he strived to give his gifted students the type of individual attention he received from Piatigorsky. He cautioned all music students not to rely on recordings of their own playing too much. "It is not enough afterwards to listen to what you have been doing. You must know it while you are actually playing," he said. He played a lovely French cello made by Nicholas Lupot in Paris in 1823, which was kept in top condition throughout its existence. He recorded the Bach Suites and all of Beethoven's cello works, and was regarded as the greatest Danish cellist. It was not unusual for Bengtsson to flawlessly perform the six Bach Suites, by memory, in a single evening.
© TiVo
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Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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HINDEMITH, P.: Cello Sonata / DALLAPICCOLA, L.: Ciaccona, intermezzo e adagio / HENZE, H.W.: Serenade / KODALY, Z.: Cello Sonata (Bengtsson) (Paul Hindemith - Luigi Dallapiccola - Hans Werner Henze)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 22, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Intégrale de l'œuvre pour violoncelle et piano
Classical - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I.: Variations on a Rococo Theme in A major / LALO, E.: Cello Concerto in D minor / SAINT-SAENS, C.: Cello Concerto No. 1 (Bengtsson) (Edouard Lalo - Camille Saint-Saens - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz, Tchaikovsky & Brahms: Orchestral Works (Remastered 2022) [Live]
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, Erling Blondal-Bengtsson
Classical - Released by Archipel on Sep 2, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A NRK Tribute to Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
Classical - Released by Danacord Records on Apr 2, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Erling Blöndal Bengtsson: The Danish Radio Recordings, Vol. 1
Erling Blondal-Bengtsson, Claus Myrup
Classical - Released by Danacord Records on Jul 12, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BENTZON, N.V.: Variations on The Volga Boatmen / SIBELIUS, J.: Theme and Variations in D minor (The Nordic Cello) (Bengtsson) (Hilding Rosenberg - Jean Sibelius - Arne Nordheim)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 23, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BARBER, S.: Cello Sonata / DEBUSSY, C.: Cello Sonata in D minor / PROKOFIEV, S.: Cello Sonata in C major (Bengtsson, Kavtaradze) (Samuel Barber - Claude Debussy - Sergey Prokofiev)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 23, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
HAYDN, F.J.: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / BOCCHERINI, L.: Cello Concerto No. 9 (Bengtsson, Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic, Stupel) (Franz Joseph Haydn - Luigi Boccherini)
Concertos - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nystroem: Sinfonia concertante - Koch: Nordiskt capriccio, Op. 26
Classical - Released by Swedish Society on Nov 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Early Danish Recordings, 1955-59
Erling Blondal-Bengtsson, The Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Danacord Records on Jul 23, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Tribute to Erling Blöndal Bengtsson
Classical - Released by Danacord Records on Mar 19, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
CHOPIN, F.: Cello Sonatas in G minor / A minor (Bengtsson, Kavtaradze) (Fryderyk Chopin - Edvard Grieg)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS, J.: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 / Scherzo (arr. for cello and piano) (Bengtsson, Kavtaradze) (Johannes Brahms - Walter Despalj)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 20, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SCHUMANN, R.: Cello Concerto in A minor / DVORAK, A.: Cello Concerto in B minor (Bengtsson, Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic, Stupel) (Robert Schumann - Antonin Dvorak)
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 23, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6
Classical - Released by Danacord on Apr 22, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piatti, A.: 12 Caprices / Bentzon, N.V.: 16 Etudes
Classical - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reger, M.: Cello Suites, Op. 131C, Nos. 1-3 / Ysaye, E.: Cello Sonata
Classical - Released by Danacord on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cello and Guitar Music - Bach, J.S. / Villa-Lobos, H. / Prokofiev, S. / Martini, J.-P.-É. / Sor, F. / Corelli, A.
Ingolf Olsen, Erling Blondal-Bengtsson
Chamber Music - Released by Danacord on Apr 23, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo